Good Bye 2017 Hello 2018!

Christmas 2017 we headed from Arizona west to Vista, CA for a couple days.  Christmas morning was spent "on the road" in our RV in the mountains east of San Diego.  Then came the phone call...Mary's family had the flu bug!  We decided to drive on the 100 miles to Vista, CA where we stayed in an RV Park a couple miles from Mary's home.

After arriving about 1 pm Christmas afternoon and getting set-up in the park we decided to take a drive.  The CA news this past few months had been filled with reports of the disastrous fires.  These included the Lilac fire that was a few miles north of Vista.  The devastation was so evident...skipped around with a house un-touched and everything leveled within a very short distance.  So sad!

The day after Christmas we drove over to Mary's, rang the doorbell, and stepped back 30 feet!  Here Mary arrived on the front sidewalk with our Christmas present.  Note that she has the presents in front of her and is thoughtfully spraying them with Lysol so we don't "catch the bug"!

The family came out so we could wish each other a Merry Christmas!  We all kept our distances.  Definitely this was a unique Christmas for ALL.

Upon returning to Arizona our first house guests of 2018 were friends Les and Susan from Canada.  We hadn't seen them for 3 years so had lots of catching up!  They are spending the winter south of Tucson but we hope they stop by when passing through again.

January 18, 2018 was an especially memorable day in Joanne's family.  To celebrate, she flew to CA.  Michelle's husband Tommy  picked Joanne up at the airport and drove a few miles north to Healdsburg.  We were very successful at SURPRISING  & SHOCKING daughter Michelle!  Note the birthday cake candles...the 100 candles represented this birthday for Joanne's father/Michelle's Grandpa.  The 41 candles were for  Michelle's birthday .  You see, on Jan. 18, 1977 Michelle was the best birthday present her grandpa ever received!

Though Grandpa Harlow is in Heaven now, we like to  remember all the fun birthdays he and Michelle shared through MANY years.  This photo was in the 1990's!

On January 18, 2018 Michelle celebrated her special day with her husband Tommy, sons Adam (in photo) & Trevor, and her Mom Joanne.

 

In the evening would you believe both her sisters and their families joined in too?  After all...this is now 2018.  The Portland, OR family was viewed on the I-Phone in Michelle's hand and the Vista, CA family was using Zoom on the computer.  The point is WE ALL SAW EACH OTHER & WERE TOGETHER to celebrate Michelle and Grandpa Harlow's Birthday!

Before leaving the area Michelle and I toured the devastation of the fire in the Santa Rosa area that is just a few miles south of Healdsburg.

Here we saw extremely large neighborhoods with only chimneys and burned vehicles...absolutely unimaginable!

Upon returning to AZ Joanne and Ken left the next day to drive to Quartzsite, AZ.  We spent the week with our Escapee's Club Prospectors and Metal Detectors group in the Dome Rock area.  As always, it is a fun week shared by all...lots of happy times!

One day Ken had the opportunity to use his intuition!  There was a motorcycle with an Oregon license "dumped" behind our camping area; it look suspicious.  Ken let the authorities know about it!

Upon heading back home we spent one night in the Chandler, AZ area.  As we were driving along we say our 1st ever "driver-less" vehicle!  The clues are the dome top and the interesting "gizzmos" near the front lights.  I suppose a few years from now this will be "no big deal".  Today it was rather exciting!